A Deadly Row (30 page)

Zach appeared to think about that, and then he nodded his approval. “Point taken. Are you ready for your breakfast meeting?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be. Do you really think Lorna’s a murderer?”

“I’m not saying just yet. Push her, and do it hard. I want to see what happens.”

“What if she snaps?”

“Would you feel better knowing that I’ve already covered that? I’ve got a plainclothes detective staking out the restaurant. You’ll be protected the entire time.”

“Don’t I rate getting you?”

“She knows me, Savannah. I’m afraid Lorna won’t open up if she sees me there.”

“You’ve thought of everything, haven’t you?”

“I hope so. It’s not too late to back out, you know.”

I glanced at the clock and realized that Lorna was already on her way. “No, I said I’d do this, and I will.”

“That’s my girl.”

I kissed him, and then I walked out the door.

“Good luck,” he called out.

“Thanks.”

The trip down the elevator was much too fast for my taste this time. I was going to have a rather public conversation with one of our murder suspects, and I wasn’t looking forward to it at all.

 

“THERE YOU ARE,” LORNA SAID AS I WALKED INTO THE
restaurant. “I was beginning to think that you weren’t going to show again.”

“I said I’d be here,” I said.

“I’m glad.”

As I joined her, I scanned the room full of diners, wondering who the plainclothes detective was that Zach had promised me. No one stood out, so I supposed that was a good thing, at least for him, but I could have used the sight of a uniformed officer at the moment.

After we ordered, I said, “You were going to bring me a present today, weren’t you?”

Lorna looked surprised. “Can you believe it? I left it on the counter at home.”

Was she lying, or had it just been an excuse to pick my brain about Zach’s investigation again? If it was, it was going to bite her this time.

“You’ve got to tell me what it is,” I said. “I’m just dying to know.”

“It’s a frame of your first puzzle that ever ran,” she said. “I called the
Lenoir Dispatch
and they dug a copy out of their archives for me. I hope you like it.”

The first paper my syndicate had sold a puzzle to was indeed a small, independent paper in the city of Lenoir. I’d been as proud of that puzzle as I could be, but I’d forgotten to save one for myself.

“That’s really thoughtful,” I said. “Thank you.”

“It would have been even better if I’d brought it with me,” she said. “I’ll have it messengered over to you today.”

“I’d appreciate that,” I said. “What made you think of doing it?”

“You broke up my relationship with Grady. I owed you something out of gratitude. It was the wake-up call I needed to save me from my bad choices. Grady was exactly the wrong man for me at the wrong time, and I don’t know what would have happened if we’d stayed together.”

“I told you, I didn’t say a word to him about you.”

“I didn’t know that when I had the newspaper framed, though. For whatever reason, splitting with Grady was what saved me.”

Our food arrived, and as we began to eat, I realized that I’d stalled long enough. I had to pressure her, and do it fast, before she walked out.

I finished a bite of my omelet, and then I asked, “Aren’t you going to ask me about Zach’s investigation?”

“You made it pretty clear the last time that you weren’t comfortable discussing it with me,” she said.

“Funny, but I never thought you’d give up that easily.”

She waved her fork in the air. “I thought about what you said, and you were right. It really never was any of my business.”

“You might be surprised.”

“Why is that?”

“Zach still has you on his list of suspects.” I said it as flatly as I could, but Lorna looked at me as though I’d just lost my mind.

“Come on, that’s not amusing at all.”

“It wasn’t meant to be,” I said. “You had a reason to want Cindy and Hank both dead. Zach can’t ignore that just because we’re friends.”

“I told you before. I didn’t kill anyone,” she said loudly enough to attract attention to us. Was one of the folks watching us the cop sent there to protect me? I certainly hoped so.

“You don’t really have an alibi for Hank’s murder though, do you?”

“I have one for Cindy’s,” she said.

“Really? What is it?”

She ignored the question. “If I’m really a suspect, why hasn’t anyone pressed me about an alibi? The two murders are tied together, if the
Observer
has it right. I couldn’t have killed Hank, because I didn’t kill Cindy.”

“It’s easy enough to say, but can you prove it?”

Lorna threw her napkin down on her plate, though her meal was less than half eaten. “I don’t have to sit here and listen to this. To think I tried to do you a favor.”

“Do yourself one,” I said. “Tell me your alibi, or tell the police.”

“You wouldn’t sic your husband on me, would you?”

“Try me,” I said, trying my best to press her into saying something she didn’t want to tell me.

“I was with Davis Rawles all night, okay?”

That was shocking to hear. I’d known about Lorna and Grady, but I’d never suspected Davis. “Excuse me if I don’t believe you,” I said.

“Believe what you want to.”

“He’s a married man, Lorna.”

“Don’t you think I know that? I’m not proud of myself, and neither is he. Maybe I haven’t changed as much as I thought I had. We were both drinking, and a little harmless flirting went way too far.”

“So, that’s why you didn’t tell the police your alibi.”

“You want to know the truth? They never asked. I figured it was because Davis cleared me, and none of his cops wanted to step on their boss’s toes.”

“Zach’s going to talk to him to confirm your story; you know that, don’t you?”

“What do I care? Let him.” She stood, and loomed over me for a second. Where was my protection? Was she getting ready to strike, even in a crowded dining room? “Savannah, you and I are through. I thought we could really be friends this time but I was wrong.”

“Is that it?” I asked, the relief washing over me.

“What more did you expect, a dramatic drumroll? Good-bye, Savannah.”

“Bye-bye,” I said almost merrily.

 

I WENT BACK UPSTAIRS TO OUR SUITE. I SUSPECTED ZACH
would already be gone, but he was still there, waiting for me.

“I thought you’d be at the station by now,” I said as my husband hugged me tightly.

“I wouldn’t have been able to concentrate. I should have gone downstairs with you.”

“I was protected all the time, remember?”

Zach paused and grinned. “Did you spot her?” “Who are you talking about?”

“The detective I sent.”

All that time, I’d been imagining a big, burly cop, when a woman had been guarding me instead. “No, I didn’t.”

“Then she was doing her job well. What did Lorna say?”

“She claims she was with Davis the night of the murder.”

My husband whistled softly. “That explains why neither one of them volunteered the information. I wonder what Davis’s wife will think when she finds out?”

“Are you going to tell her?” I was surprised by the comment, since my husband was normally the model of discretion.

“Not me, but it’s a small force, and husbands talk to wives. She’ll find out soon enough.”

“You’re going to confirm it with Davis, aren’t you?”

“I have to,” Zach said, “though I’m not looking forward to it. Way to go, Savannah. If this checks out, you’ve just eliminated two suspects with one confession.”

“It wasn’t exactly freely given,” I admitted. “I threatened her with you.”

“However you did it, good work.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Do you mean after I talk to Davis? If it checks out, I’m going to focus on Grady. I was pretty sure he was the killer before, but now I’m almost positive. I just can’t believe one of my closest friends is capable of murder.”

“Are you going to arrest him?”

“That’s the problem. I don’t have enough real evidence yet. But trust me, I’ll get it.”

“Don’t do anything stupid, Zach,” I said. “You know the temper Grady has. He could do anything.”

“Trust me, I’ll be careful. What are you going to do in the meantime?”

“Does that mean I can’t come along with you when you corner Grady?”

He laughed. “Not a chance in the world, and you know it.”

I glanced at the clock. “I don’t feel like waiting around for lunch with Sherry. I’m going to call her and see if I can come by early. I didn’t even have a chance to eat my breakfast.”

“Have a good time, and send her my love.”

“I will. Zach, I meant what I said. Be careful.”

“Always,” he replied as he headed for the door.

I just wished that were true.

 

I SPENT AN HOUR AT SHERRY’S BUT IT WAS CLEAR TO BOTH
of us that I was worried about my husband, and we broke it off early, with the promise that we’d get together after all of this was over.

As I drove back to the hotel, I knew that Zach was closing in on the killer, but I believed in my heart that Grady had to have slipped up making that puzzle for us to decipher. If I could find a signature clue there, it would make my husband’s case that much stronger.

I might not be able to help in most ways, but I could at least do that.

When I got back to our suite at the hotel, I tried to look at the clues we’d been given with fresh eyes. No matter how much I tried, though, I kept coming back to the last note’s odd appearance. It was so different from the others that I couldn’t get my mind off it. Had I missed something there before? It was so strange.

And then I realized what was so troubling to me about it.

There wasn’t a single letter or number on it.

Or was there?

I STARTED LOOKING CLOSER AT THE OBLONG CIRCLES AGAIN,
and then I suddenly realized that there might have been a clue there all along, but we’d all just missed it.

When the sheet was examined closely, it was clear that the lines were broken in many places. At first, I’d just assumed that it was from the way it was copied, but as I stared harder at it, I began to see that there was more than just a series of oblong circles.

Zach had a magnifying glass on his key chain, and I prayed that he’d left it behind, since he wasn’t driving our car. For my husband’s fortieth birthday, I’d gotten him a magnifying glass, though miniaturized, like Sherlock Holmes might have used. It hung from his key chain, and even sported its own little case.

Thankfully, it was still on the dresser. I took the shade off one of the lamps and held the copy up to the bulb. Without the magnifying glass, I could really see the breaks with my naked eye, but when I saw it under magnification, my heart started pounding.

Those weren’t just lines.

They were a series of numbers, all in the same sequence of number-letter combinations that we’d been getting from the start. In a way, it was exactly like my nightmare.

I had a key to the puzzle now.

It was time to get to work.

 

AFTER I FINISHED RECORDING THE NUMBERS AND LET
ters, I stared at the list on my pad. I was happy to see that the sequences we’d already received were included in this list, telling me that my hunch was on the money. I quickly filled in the grid with the new additions, but there were spaces still left open, and several sequences that didn’t seem to fit into the grid.

Along with a series of numbers, there was something that appeared to be a set of other numbers that didn’t fit: C13, B12, D11.

But what did they mean? If they were a part of my grid, they wouldn’t match the vowel axis I’d penciled in.

They had to mean something, though.

I started to pick up the phone, and then I remembered the radio in my pocket.

“Hello?” I asked tentatively as I pushed the button. “Is anyone there?”

“Hello, Savannah. How may I be of service to you?”

I still couldn’t get over the fact that I had the hotel’s manager at my beck and call.

“Could you send someone up here with an almanac, a road atlas for the area, and a fact booklet on the city of Charlotte?”

“Of course.”

He signed off, and I wondered how long I would have to wait.

Four minutes later, there was a knock at my door.

“Yes?”

Garrett said, “I have the information you requested.”

As I opened the door, I said, “Wow, that was fast.”

“I was about to apologize for the delay. I had to retrieve a new copy of
Charlotte’s Got A Lot
.”

He handed me the stack of requested items. “Will there be anything else?”